Robert Wright III is the only returning starter from last season's BYU basketball team. AJ Dybantsa is bound for the NBA Draft, as is senior star and heartbeat of the program for the past few seasons Richie Saunders, who is projected to be taken somewhere in the second round. Keba Keita graduated, and Kennard Davis Jr. transferred to Missouri in the SEC.
That just leaves Wright, who nearly left the program himself when early NIL negotiations went south and he at one point sat with a crystal ball projection to Mark Pope and Kentucky before ultimately deciding to return to BYU for his junior season.
That's a massive win for a program facing excessive turnover. Returning talent and consistency are what wins at the highest level of college basketball, and Kevin Young believes Wright to be the best point guard in the country.
Wright will suit up alongside Collin Chandler (a transfer from Kentucky and former highest-rated recruit in BYU basketball history) and Bruce Branch III (a McDonald's All-American, Team USA member, and 5-star talent) in the backcourt, but will be the leader of this year's basketball team with no Saunders or Dybantsa to be seen. The weight falls upon his shoulders to mesh with his teammates and create a winner in Provo.
But to maximize his team's potential, we need to see Wright take a leap in his junior season.
And that's after he improved in nearly every statistical category from his freshman year at Baylor.
Robert Wright III year-by-year stats
Freshman, Baylor:
11.5 PPG
4.2 APG
2.1 RPG
35.2% 3PT
1.0 SPG
Sophomore, BYU:
18.1 PPG
4.6 APG
3.5 RPG
41.0% 3PT
1.2 SPG
He upped his averages by nearly 7 points per game, one rebound per game, and became a deadeye shooter as a sophomore (perhaps the most reliable shooter from distance on Kevin Young's roster, and with an increased volume from a year before). But he was forced to play second-fiddle to Dybantsa for much of the year, and will be completely unleashed as a junior, the team's veteran, and the longest-tenured member of the starting 5.
What a wild fact that is.
I'm not saying that he needs to make a similar leap in scoring from his sophomore year to his junior year -- by all accounts, he was excellent as a sophomore -- but as a distributor and initator of the offense, I'd love to see Wright become more pass-first, picking his spots more favorably on the offensive end with the weapons around him.
Retaining Wright may have been the biggest acquisition for BYU basketball this offseason. Let's hope he can turn this year's roster into a winner in the Big 12.
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